Pedometers of this kind, hereinafter also called “step counters,” are commonly known. The document DE 10 2007 043 490, for example, discloses a pedometer in which a number of steps, and by way of a predefined step length a route traveled, can be deduced by evaluating the signals of an acceleration sensor. Because the distance thereby ascertained corresponds only to a “bee-line,” projected onto the plane, between the starting point and destination, provision is further made to use a pressure sensor to take into account the elevation profile over the route segment. A disadvantage of the conventional pedometer is that provision is made only for general consideration of how the elevation that has been negotiated influences the length of the route traveled. The existing art does not disclose variable adaptation to a change in elevation of the step length taken into account in route measurement, and this form of route calculation is therefore relatively inaccurate.